"Some stars aren't like you and me": a talk with Wayne Koestenbaum on Andy Warhol

Over twenty-five years after his unexpected death in 1987 following routine gall bladder surgery, avant-garde artist Andy Warhol remains a controversial artistic and cultural figure. In a wide-ranging interview, Wayne Koestenbaum--professor of English at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and author of a biography about Warhol published in 2001--discusses the reasons for that controversy as they relate to Warhol's gay sexual orientation and queer outsider contributions to contemporary culture. The introduction to the interview explores why, despite the problems Warhol encountered personally and professionally over the years because of his queer outsider status, his art and personality have had a deep impact on mainstream culture.